Rishi Sunak has sparked new demands for an immediate general election by indicating that he is ready to tear up a whole range of spending pledges – including the Northern Powerhouse high-speed rail link – as he struggles to balance the government’s books in this month’s crucial autumn statement.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner told The Independent that the prime minister had shredded his authority by going back on past promises, and called on him to go to the country immediately to seek a mandate from voters.
